


streetlights talk (the way my mother told me)

by lilevans



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: California, F/M, Post canon, Roadtrip, also noah is there for some of it sorta???, blue-gansey centric but henry is there too, country, i miss the books this just happened lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 12:19:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12681762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilevans/pseuds/lilevans
Summary: But then she feels the skin of his open palm as their hands intertwine, and she remembers why she’s doing this. Why she’s getting away, running away, and running toward.“And it’s going to be wonderful.”― In which Blue, Gansey, and Henry go on a road trip from Henrietta to Los Angeles to see Ronan and Adam. The long way round. Featuring sunrises, hippo campus, central park, Maura sending memes, and unconventional music tastes.





	streetlights talk (the way my mother told me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ssstrychnine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssstrychnine/gifts).



> dedicated to ssstrychnine because im obsessed and completely inspired by the roadtrip fics you write. keep up the good work, im constantly in awe :)
> 
> this is gonna be roughly four parts, i'm sorry it got so long! did nOT mean for that to happen!!  
> there's a [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/phoenixintheashes/playlist/6yBvhP9c0MlVWbRQmPanGR) if you wanna check it out!!! tysm  
> this has nOT been edited thoroughly because it's currently 1am, but thank you for your patience <3

**I: the spirit is found in the idealistically idle;**

* * *

 

 

**XVI: HENRIETTA, VIRGINIA.**

Henrietta has always had three good things; 300 fox way, her boys and the sunrise. That is what Blue Sargent decides the morning before they all leave. The sky is crisp and bursting with orange that reminds her of Orla’s swimsuit. She’s filled with this strange sort of sadness, like she’s running away, but she remembers; she running to them.

Adam and Ronan are waiting for them in Los Angeles, loving and learning, and trying to tan. Chainsaw’s _KERAH’s_ and Opal’s cries of laughter are waiting for them in the California beaches.

Henry smiles his signature smile as he shuts the boot of the pig, and he wanders over to where Blue and Gansey stand, watching the sunrise from the porch. Maura is watching them with a hopeful sorrow.

“Do you think the Pig will even get us there, Gansey boy?”

Gansey smiles easily as he slides his hand into Blue’s, gaze flickering between her and the skyline.  

“Yeah, it’ll hold up.”

Blue looks up at him, because she’s still short. She’s given up on growing. Her hand is tiny in his, and she feels safe now, the calm before the storm.

But oh, what a wonderful storm it will be.

She hugs Maura, Calla, and the Grey man one last time, and they each say their goodbyes.

“Be safe, kid.” Blue smiles at her mother’s words and gets into the passenger seat of the Pig, Gansey driving and Henry in the back. Robobee flies around for a while in the back. Blue thinks it’s a little strange, not seeing Persephone on that porch seeing her off, even though she’s been gone for months. She doesn’t think she’ll ever stop finding it unusual, stop missing her whimsical ways.

Into the storm.

“Life’s just beginning kiddos!” Henry says from the back, arms slung across the backs of the chair

“I thought it began after the second time I died, frankly.” Gansey says, dimples visible as he shuts the door.

Henry’s eyes close and he flashes back to the day on he saw the king fall, a day filled with something awful, before he opens them and reminds himself that Gansey is right there.

“It’s going to be so strange, not being home.” Blue feels slightly unsure, a strange feeling growing in knots as gansey starts the engine and pulls out.

But then she feels the skin of his open palm as their hands intertwine, and she remembers why she’s doing this. Why she’s getting away, running away, and running toward.

“And it’s going to be wonderful.”

 

* * *

 

**XV: CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA**

Blue has been in control of the radio and they all smell a little bit like sweat in the July heat. Henry opens the snacks and they munch on Girl Scout cookies while they talk about welsh mythology and everything that happened in that last year.

“I guess I kind of miss it,” Blue murmurs through her cookie, almost ashamed to admit it.

“What? Being close to dying all the time?” Henry smiles and Blue whirls around to nudge him playfully.

“No, I get it. Having a goal.” Gansey murmurs thoughtfully, as he chews on his signature mint leaf.

“Yeah. Although since we’re taking the long way to LA I’ve been feeling better about myself.” Blue’s smile is contagious and Gansey can feel her electric pulse as she places her hand on top of his on the gearstick.

“Must be hardest on you, Gansey boy.” Henry says quietly, munching on his cookie.

“Yeah. But I wouldn’t do any of it differently. And now, we’ve got a new adventure.” Gansey smiles as they take the exit to Charlottesville. They all glance at each other as the Pig makes a concerning churning sound as it changes gears, but before they know it they’re laughing.

They arrive at Charlottesville at 12:14pm and Blue practically sprints into the 7/11 they park next to, the boys trailing behind her laughing. She runs out carrying mountain dews and several mini tubs of yogurt. The biggest grin is etched upon her features and her hair is dark and fluffy as the wind messes it around and it makes Gansey’s heart explode. Henry looks at her with a big grin and cheekily takes one of the tubs. She scowls for a flicker of a second before she’s laughing again.

“So you’re gonna share?” Gansey asks rather than taking, even though he probably paid for them. She looks like she’s considering it, then gives him a tub.

They eat their yogurt on top of the Pig on the edge of a park. Blue’s hair is fluffy, tangled and un-brushed and even gansey has allowed his shirt to crinkle a little.

The playground is rusty and it’s missing the slide.

“Do you think someone took it or if they never bothered to make one?” she cocks her head to the side.  

“Probably both.” Henry says, also cocking his head.

Gansey starts to think of Adam and Ronan, Adam tanning by the beach, and Ronan doing everything in his power to stay out of the sun, mumbling to Chainsaw and not making sense, mumbling a coherent string of swear words. And he knows he misses them terribly, the way you miss people when they’re gone. It’s something he’s not used to feeling.

He’s been more familiar with the awful feeling of missing someone of late though. He thinks of Noah, his smudgy features and quiet nature. He knows that Noah is gone, he left, and it feels like time forgot him. He looks up for a moment. _I didn’t forget you_ he tells the sky.

Gansey feels Henry’s warm hand on his arm and he is interrupted from his thoughts, and looking and Henry being so content, hair still spiky despite the sticky heat, and it feels a little better. Blue makes eye contact with him as she finishes her yogurt.

She tips the fruit from her yogurt into Gansey’s tub and Henry looks at her quizzically. She only raises her eyebrow to show his distaste.

“The bottom bits are gross, Cheng.”

“The bottom bits are the best part!” Henry’s voice goes a little higher in disagreement.

“I have to agree with Henry, Jane.” Gansey says matter-of-factly as he takes a spoonful of pure yogurt-bits and munches happily.

“That’s why our relationship works, gansey. If we both hated fruity bits, well then where would we be?”

“Giving them to me, probably.” Henry quips through a mouthful.

“Shut up, I don’t want to give them to you, Cheng.” Blue laughs the words that should be laced with venom without a single drop of it at all.

“Its 5 hours to Philly from here isn’t it?” She looks at Gansey with wide eyes, and the scratch on her left eye is still visible, and still absolutely beautiful, in its own way. Strange and unusual and a little bit beautiful just like the rest of her.

“Yes, 5 hours.” Gansey glances at his watch. They better head on the road soon if they want to get to Philly before dark.

Henry smiles wider and slides of the top of the car, patting it fondly.

“If the Pig gets us that far, of course.”

“We can’t just leave, guys.” Blue frowns into her empty yogurt tub. “We haven’t really been in Charlottesville. We’ve just ate yogurt in a park.”

Henry nods in agreement and gansey plucks a mint leaf into his mouth thoughtfully and kisses her palm.

“Where will we go, Jane?”

Blue looks at the street signs, squinting in the heat to see where they could lead to. She smiles and tucks a strand of fluffy hair behind her ear. “What about an art gallery?”

She jumps off the car and dusts herself off. “Come on. We can walk.”

Gansey glances at his watch. “Ok but we have to be back by two.”

They walk through the sticky streets arm in arm, Blue in middle and pulling the boys down a little by being so short. The streets are filled with sunny-eyed Virginians and stormy-faced ones, and Blue wonders if Californians are sunny-eyed. She hopes so.

Henry’s head is quiet for a while, and for once it’s the best kind of quiet. He is content in this summer heat, linked with Blue and Gansey in the streets of a town he’s never bothered to go to before now. And he’d rather be here with these two than anywhere else.

Gansey wonders why he never did a road trip like this when he was searching for Glendower. He still misses the thrill of it all, the constant schemes and plans and sketches and adventures wrapped in intrigue and myth. In magic. He misses Cabeswater and Adam and Ronan. He misses the thrill of seeking the Raven King.

But then he remembers that his arm is in Blue’s, wonderful Blue, and she’s steering them into an art gallery, and Gansey flips a couple coins into the donation box as they grab some programs.

“I want to see the modern heart exhibition!” Blue tugs Gansey’s sleeve and he and Henry are pulled along, completely content. Blue and her boys.

The exhibition is a weird combination of trees and anatomy, and she is completely in awe. The roots of a heart are shown and the tree in the centre is almost painted to look like its beating. Blue cries right then and there. Not even a day in and she’s reminded of everything that’s happened and how beautiful being a tree light is. She presses her head to gansey’s shoulder and feeling him against her gives her an overwhelming happiness.

It’s on the walk back the the car, shoes in her hand because she got sick of walking in them, that it sets in that this is what they’re doing. They’re on a road trip to California. They’re in the car and on the road again, stocked up on all the food they need for the next 5 hours. Blue falls asleep as soon as her head hits the head rest. Her hand is still touching Gansey’s.

 

* * *

 

**XIV: PHILIDELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA**

The car ride means that its Henry’s turn for the music picks, and his choice is even more peculiar than Blue’s range of indie-to-intense-screamo. It’s electronica. Gansey learns his favourite artist is actually called the Fat Rat and he’s surprised it takes Blue an entire hour to wake up from the sounds. She’s blurry-eyed and slightly delusional, but she fixes Henry and Gansey with scowl and a sarcastic remark, and they know she’s fine. Robobee goes ahead to scope out the scene.

The sun is setting as they get to their hostel. Blue refused to let Gansey book fancy places or stay with old-moneyed friends of his parents.

“We have to go back to basics, moron. Do it the proper American teenager way.” She’d said.

And now, as they’re pulling into the 80s style hotel, Gansey isn’t so sure. But he takes one look at the expression of pure joy on Blue’s face and decides it’s worth a shot.

They’re in room 112, and they have climb three sets of rickety metal stairs, like what you see in the movies, to get to the room. And when they get there, it’s musty and the one godsend is the record player in the corner.

Gansey can’t find any good ones, but Blue pulls out David Bowie from the drawer, underneath the bible, and “heroes” comes on. Henry is positively enthused, and Gansey himself can’t contain his smile.

They buy KFC from around the corner and sit on the floor of the hotel room while the record spins.

“Have you heard from Ronan?” Henry asks through his chicken, and gansey shakes his head.

“I swear that idiot needs to learn how to use his cell--” Blue mutters through her chips, grumbling but affectionate, and that’s when gansey’s phone rings.

The screen says “probably Adam” and he grins.

“Speak of the devil, jane.” He says as he picks up.

His eyebrows raise to the roof as he realises it isn’t Adam, but Ronan himself.

“You on the road yet, Dick?” He’s straight to the point, gruff, as usual. Blue smiles a secret smile at him through the Pepsi she’s drinking, unsure of why he looks so surprised.

“Yes, Ronan, we are. You miss us?”

Blue nearly chokes on her drink when she hears who he’s talking to.

“No, asshole.” Ronan quips, as fast as ever. “Did you see the farm before you left? Check-up on it?” His voice is laced with the smallest amount of concern. The smallest, because he already knows they did.

“Yeah, it was all fine, I promise. Nothing bad is gonna happen while you’re gone, Ronan.” Gansey reassures. He pauses for a moment, unsure of what to feel now he’s talking to Ronan again. It wasn’t long ago, he knows that, but god, he misses them all being together.

“How is everything in California? You burned to a crisp yet?”

Ronan laughs shortly. “No. Adam keeps making me go on the beach, though, the Fuckhead. He should know I hate the beach.”

Gansey chuckles. “Yeah, he should. Maybe he just wants you to, you know, socialise.” Pause. “What’s Adam up to, anyway? He looking after you while you’re on vacation there?”

“He’s still studying, the annoying tosser. But I’ll see him later. You should call him.”

“I will. But hey, I think Jane wants to talk to you.” Blue glares at him and he chuckles as he passes her the phone.

“Hey, idiot.” She says quietly into the phone, suddenly unsure. She misses him too.

“You alive, Sargent?” he asks, seemingly cruelly. Blue knows now that he misses her as well. It’s all a big party of missing and being missed. But before the month is out, they’ll all be together again.

“Yeah, I am Lynch. So you’re not looking like a tomato with all that sun around?”

“Nah, it’s something I avoid at all costs. Parrish thinks I’m some sort of Hermit.”

She laughs into the phone. “You are!”

“Yeah, yeah.” He laughs a little too.

“We miss you, and your stupid raven. Your stupid face too.” Blue says, so softly only Ronan would hear.

“Yeah, I miss having you call me an asshole everyday too, Sargent.” He replies, genuinely.

She sniffles shortly and puts him on speakerphone, and they chat to him for a good half hour about everything and nothing.

When they finally hang up, it’s 11pm, and they have to leave the hotel by 10am, wonder around Philly for a bit, and get to New York City by 5pm the next day.

Blue takes the double bed and gansey and Henry take the singles. They sit in a comfy silence, muttering to each other here and there before they finally fall asleep. The record stops spinning.

Blue wakes up at 2am and Gansey is looking at her from across the room, from his own bed. She whispers an inaudible sound that sounds like “ _strange dream_ ” and he slowly gets up and joins her in the double bed, and they fall asleep facing each other, fingers encased and intertwined on the pillow they share.

* * *

 

The morning is filled with blurry-eyed sleepiness and tubs of yogurt. Henry got up at 6am to run to 7/11, waking Blue up with David Bowie. Her wide eyes flutter open and she grins as he hands her a yogurt tub. Gansey thanks Henry with his award-winning smile as they sit on the bed and talk about the day.

“What about the Comcast centre today?” Blue asks as she pushes aside the fruity bits, Gansey playfully rolling his eyes at it

“We learnt about it in school. Tallest building in the state, and there’s shops and everything.”

“You sure you’d wanna go there, Sargent? Might not have the shops you like,” Henry says as she begrudgingly gives him her yogurt bits.

“I don’t care. Just because we have money doesn’t mean we have to buy anything. We can just get food and look around. And you know, I’d really like a new hat.”

The boys laugh at her, and she feels a pain in her gut, a good pain. The one she’s missed since school finished, since they realised they had to stop searching for Glendower. The feeling she got with her friends.

They park on the outskirts of the Philly after checking out of the hotel. Blue steals the Bowie record. Gansey wouldn’t let her steal the record player. They bus to the city, talking of trees and kings and the best pizza topping. They get weird looks on the bus, old men reading the paper with quirked, disapproving eyebrows, women in business suits going to their day jobs, looking down on the strange, wealthy, and _weird_ looking teenagers who were on a public bus.

The Comcast centre is huge and Blue feels shorter than she’s ever felt, standing in the middle of a city with gansey’s arm looped through hers.

During one of their arguments last year, Blue had angrily told Gansey he didn’t know anything about being trapped, in Henrietta, by his destiny, by anything, because money _is_ freedom. He knows now that she has always been right about that.

Money is what allowed him to travel to England to meet Malory, allowed him to live in Monmouth, allowed him to _search._

Gansey now knows how much he owes to money, and he whispers “you were right,” in Blue’s ear as they gaze up at the tall building before them.

“About what?” She asks with quizzical eyebrows. Henry can hear them, and neither of them really minds, but this feels like a conversation that should be whispered.

“Money is freedom, Jane. I’ve always known that, but it wasn’t ‘til I knew you that I _knew_ it.” He smiles.

“Yeah, I was right, asshole.” She says, smiling from ear to ear.

“But you and your stupid money have given me my freedom too, so I guess I shouldn’t be angry.”

“Don’t be daft.” He snorts in reply. “You worked multiple jobs for this. It’s your money too. And besides, you refused to let me pay for anything that wasn’t mine.”

She smiled, and they just laughed.

“Sargent, do you still want that hat?” Henry laughs as he wanders over to the tourist stall just inside the Comcast building. There’s a whole rack of them, dozens to choose from.

Blue looks like she might burst from happiness, and she rushes in, determined to choose the most ridiculous one.

(She buys gansey one too.)

The day passes in a flurry of shops and cityness, Blue looks at stalls and shops and she thinks she might pass out when she sees the view of Philly from the top of the Comcast centre. It’s as amazing as the first day Gansey took them all out in the helicopter, but less nauseating.

Blue looks at the skyline from the building and wonders if Noah is up there.

 _I miss you_ she tells the sky from the top floor.

They’re catching the bus back when Henry falls asleep on Blue’s shoulder, Robobee contentedly on his face. Gansey and Blue just smile.

The Pig looks as ancient as it did a year ago, and Blue can’t help but think that it looks completely out of place in an outer-city car park. Henrietta suited it.

They all tumble into the car tiredly, and Henry, energised from his nap, offers to drive, Robobee on his shoulder. Gansey hands him the keys and Blue swaps into Henry’s place in the backseat.

“New York! New YOOOORRRRRKKK” Henry sings with dramatic flair, and Gansey puts a CD into the radio of the car.

It’s a compilation of musicals. Defying gravity and Blue’s head hits the back of the seat with exasperated glee, and she knows that this truly is, a wonderful life.

 

* * *

 

**XIII: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK.**

The sun is setting over the billions of glittering lights as they arrive in New York, and Blue thinks it looks a little like what their souls would look like if you ripped them out of their bodies. Tiny, glittering pieces of light. From the backseat, she can spot the Empire State Building and the beginnings of Manhattan, and it all seems so much brighter now she’s seeing it in real life.

She texts Maura, realising with a jolt of guilt that she forgot to text last night. Maura knows that Blue is safe, though.

_Got to Philly safely, just got into NY. It looks like a different kind of paradise, mum. I miss you._

Henry looks around from the front seat to see the expression on her face. She’s the only one who’s never been before.

And the look on her face, glee and overwhelming happiness and sadness and a small rush of _missing_ Henrietta is written on her features.

And then, she cries.

She cries, because she’s finally here, after crying and nearly dying and gansey dying and fighting and loving and learning, she’s finally here, in the city that never sleeps, with two of the best people in the world.

Gansey takes her hand from the passenger seat and they sit like that, and he finds himself tearing up too.

In the city that never sleeps with two of best people in the world.

The traffic pile is miles on and Henry sighs softly, before laughing, just as soft.  

“Start spreading the news.” He hums to himself, and Blue snorts, even though she knows the next line.

“I’m leavin’ today,” Gansey is the one who says it, louder, and he spins around to face Blue. She smiles widely at him as his dimple pokes through, sunset light over him.

“I wanna be a part of it,” Blue succumbs and rolls her eyes magnificently, joining it.

“In, New York, New York.” They all beam with rays of light hitting their face as the traffic light goes green. Gansey puts his foot to the pedal with such enthusiasm Blue is thrown forwards a little bit from the back seat.

Henry mumbles a joke about being as bad as Blue at traffic lights, but Blue is already singing the next line of the song, and she doesn’t hear.

“I wanna wake up in the city that doesn’t sleep,” she grins from ear to ear, and Henry begins to sing the backing as Gansey and Blue duet for the next line.

“And find you’re, king of the hill, top of the heap.” Blue and Gansey, only one of whom can sing, (it isn’t Blue) and they harmonise perfectly.

The next line stings Blue a little bit, but Henry takes her hand from the front seat, squeezing reassuringly, also grinning from ear to ear. Robobee sits on his shoulder.

“Your small town blues, they’re melting away, gonna make a brand new start of it,”

They belt out a finale at the next traffic light. Blue can just see Times Square and her heart bursts.

“In OLD, NEW, YOOORRRRRRKKKKKKKKKKK!!”

They laugh and they chests are made of helium, floating and feeling like they’re on top of the Empire State Building.

Times Square is busy and bustling and Henry is reminded of the last time he is here, and how big everything felt. Seven years old, hand in hand with his mother and looking at the people and the gargantuan signs and the huge yellow taxis. It still seems huge, even now, when he’s gone through so much nothing feels big anymore.

This, this does though. This June, running through Charlottesville with Blue and Gansey, it’s earth-shatteringly big. He knows that now, even if the Raven King is dead and it’s all over, even if Cabeswater isn’t there to keep them safe, even if Robobee is a shell of its former prowess, they’re all together, driving through _Times Square_ and singing jazz music, because that’s what they know how to do. They know how to be together.

Their stay in New York is the one thing Blue allowed to be glamourous. Gansey booked a hotel on the Manhattan Skyline on West 81st street, in the heart of Manhattan, in the district filled with museums. It’s sort of heaven.

The hotel is called the Excelsior Hotel, and Gansey definitely laughed for an hour straight when he and Blue booked it, and they nearly kissed each other there and then. But Gansey felt her hand to start to shake and they thought better of it.

Now, here they are, the Excelsior Hotel, in the rich heart of New York, and still, Blue wants her snacks from the nearest 7/11.

She stocks up on yogurt and cheese snacks and a New York cap, and Henry laughs at her. He offers her his card, but she swats it away and pulls out her own cash, that she’s been saving for months, in a jar under her bed labelled “out of Henrietta fund.” The cashier is cynical and blowing bubble gum as she gives Blue back her change, and she just grins, mutters something sarcastic about lightening up, and saunters out of the shop.

In the elevator to their room, located on the 9th floor, Blue mumbles something about how she’s always wanted to see wicked.

“I KNOW it’s stereotypical, I know, but like… I’ve always just wanted to see it.” She bits her lip and Gansey just smiles at her.

“I know,” He says, looking down at her as the _ding!_ Sounds.

She looks at him with wild, furrowed eyebrows.

“How could you know that?” She asks, crossing her arms.

“Uh, your mom told us,” Henry replies with a smile, and Blue goes red.

“She DIDN”T-” but before she knows it, she’s laughing.

“Don’t be mad at her, Blue,” Gansey chuckles, slowly pulling some pieces of paper out of his pocket.

“We wouldn’t have known to buy these otherwise.” She looks down at his now open palms and sees three shining Broadway tickets to the Wednesday night show of _Wicked_ in front of her.

“Dick, _you_ didn’t…” She trails off in shock, before dropping her suitcase in the middle of the hallway and encasing him in a bone crushing, soul-encompassing hug. Her arms are around his neck and his hands find her waist easily, and he closes his eyes into her excited, loving embrace and thinks that he would do anything for this reaction.

They pull back slightly and he looks at her, eyelashes fluttering with delight, breath on his face. She feels the cool mint breath on her cheeks as he gazes at her, and she remembers the night in the car, in the middle of everything that happened, lips so close but never touching, breathe misting in front of each other.

_And now we never speak of it again._

Looking at him like this, in the hallway of a grand hotel in New York City, Henry texting an Aglionby group chat, she wants to kiss him right then and there, but then the anxieties fill her gut as quickly as the happiness did.

_What if I kill him again?_

Blue Sargent has always been a sensible creature.

So she lets go of his neck, and hugs Henry quickly too, before taking the keys from him, picking up her suitcase and marching to find their room, mumbling the words of _One Short Day_ as she goes.

 

* * *

 

Their room reminds Gansey of home, in a weird, out of place way. The rooms have an air of elegance and polished wood, rickety nightstands and dark oak line the walls. It reminds Henry a little bit of Litchfield house, but it is less cluttered.

“Reckon a gangster’s mistress would have lived here,” He mutters, dropping his bag on the nearest bed. He knows Blue will take the one closest to the window.

“Yea, looks a little like a darker version of Myrtle’s apartment in the great Gatsby.” Gansey replies, taking a mint leaf from his stash in his pocket.

Blue and Henry look at him in confusion.

His eyebrows raise. “Never seen Great Gatsby before?”

Blue snorts. “The film was slightly dumb and pretentious. Also, I think this room would be more Jordan’s lane than Myrtle’s.”

Gansey laughs and puts his hands up in surrender. “Fair point.”

They unpack and Blue thumps her bag on the bed by the window, just like Henry predicted. She gazes out of the window, blowing hair out of her face.

“We’re in New York.” She states, smiling widely again.

“Yeah, we are Jane.” Gansey smiles, offering her a mint leaf. She shakes her head.

“Do you think it’s too late for a walk?” Her eyebrows quirk in that magnificent way, and Gansey knows he’s already agreed to whatever she’s suggesting.

“You kids go on,” Henry says as he kicks his shoes off and makes himself comfy on the bed.

“I have some _Bold and Beautiful_ to catch up on.” Blue and Gansey laugh at him and promise to be home within 2 hours. Henry doesn’t seem fussed, only winking at Blue as they leave.

Their hands are intertwined before they’ve even left the lobby, and neither of them are the slightest bit sorry.

“Where are we going?” Gansey whispers into the night.

“Central Park, dummy.” His thumb rubs circles on the inside of her palm absentmindedly and she involuntarily shivers, trying not to let him notice.

They walk into the park, which is somehow still open and they start talking about god knows what. Blue talks about what memes Maura has sent her, because it’s a strange habit her mother got into, and it’s highly entertaining. He tells her about what he learnt about New York last time he was here, and she laughs at his dumb NYC puns.

She gets this mischievous glint in her eyes and before Gansey knows it, he’s so whipped that he hasn’t noticed her stick her foot out in front of him and he’s falling over into the grass, tumbling ungracefully, and yet, somehow, still like a king.

Blue can’t stop laughing at her own mayhem and Gansey can’t help but join her, and they giggle at nothing until their cheeks hurt.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry.” Blue mocks as she sticks a hand out to help him up. He knows she’s strong enough to haul him up, despite her size, but he takes advantage of the fact that she’s got his hand, pulling her down with him.

They laugh even harder and Blue presses herself into the cool grass below her, clinging to any sort of chill in the June heat.

“Gansey,” She mutters into the sky as she flips onto her back in the grass.

“Jane,” He says back, joining her until they’re stargazing, looking up into the deep blue beyond them, filled with everything at once and nothing at all.

“I feel a bit like an imploding star when we’re together. In a good way.” Blue mumbles nonsensically as she moves into him, her wrists touching his. Unsafe.

“I feel the same, Blue,” He whispers back, and pushes a little bit closer. Dangerously close.

Her breath is on his neck again, and they both prop themselves up, unable to help themselves. Hands snake around her waist and Blue lets her hands cup his cheeks. Too close. Too close.

She realises too late.

“We shouldn’t--” She recoils, scared, _sensible,_ but still filled with this never-ending want. _Need._

“Jane,” Gansey says, softly, stroking her hair out of her face with the pad of his thumb.

“No, I don’t… I can’t risk… I will not kill you again.” She stumbles on the words and looks down.

“I could die any day, Blue. I could stick my hand in a toaster, get hit by a car, get struck by lightning, get stung by wasps, _again,_ so how much does it really matter how it goes? I would rather die knowing I’ve kissed you again.”

Blue smiles and she knows he’s right.

“But--”

He only looks at her, and she smiles, hands against his cheek once more.

“Jane, we will both die at some point, young or old. So please, just kiss me.”

So she does. Slowly, surely, like she’s terrified of breaking him, clinging to him in case he shatters, disappears. But he doesn’t. He stays real and strong beside her and he kisses back, and she’s thought about this moment so many times, in a bittersweet way, and now it’s really happening.

Gansey feels the small of her back beneath his fingers and feels her shaking a little bit beside him. She’s terrified of breaking him, and he pulls her a little bit closer.

“I’m alive, Jane. I’m not about to shatter.” He whispers.

She lets a tear fall before wiping it away quickly, trying hide it. He only chuckles, so blue just pulls him back in, wanting to make this moment last forever. Dick and Jane kissing in the pitch black of central park.

When they pull away, she’s still weeping a little, and he wipes salt water away gently. Her hands are around his neck and they untangle slightly, settling for barely touching, but just enough.

“And now,” Blue says, sad smile on her face, repeating the lines of their first, almost-never kiss.

“We never speak of it again.”

* * *

 

Gansey buys a New York Yankees hat and later admits he’s never watched a baseball game in his life, and Henry, shocked, steals the cap.

“You ever heard of ice hockey? Gotta give a shout out to my main team, Vancouver Canucks,”

Blue rolls her eyes and drags them further down the street.

“Y’all act like I’ve ever given a damn about sport.”

“Jane, you used to bike everywhere and you’re a swimmer,” Gansey points out as he playfully takes his cap back from Henry.

“Not competitively” She replies, now stealing Gansey’s hat off of him again, struggling, and stretching her legs as she stands on her tip-toes to reach of his head. As she grabs the hat, she and Henry high-five.

She places it on her head and they all decide it looks better on her. So much so, that Gansey actually runs back to the souvenir shop to buy her another cap.

They walk through the heat the busy people, and Gansey thinks that maybe if he hadn’t been chasing Welsh Kings, he could have had this. Suit and Tie lifestyle and old-moneyed hotels and high end ones in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Coming home to Virginia or Indiana with a wife and two small children looking forward to seeing their parents and not their nanny. He shakes his head and rids himself of the thought, thinking of Henry’s arm on his shoulder and Blue’s tiny hand in his. He wouldn’t give it up for anything.

“We should head back to the hotel, get hyped up for the _show tonight!_ ” Henry says, lightly punching Blue on the arm, causing her to scowl, then laugh.

“Jane,” Gansey murmurs as they go back to Hotel Excelsior.

“Yes, Dick?” She replies, batting her eyelashes, using the nickname ambiguously, the same way as Ronan.

“What do you think you’d be doing if you weren’t here right now? You too, Cheng.” He asks, one hand in his pocket, the other still touching Blue’s. Henry’s arm shifts its weight on Gansey’s shoulder, pondering.

Blue bits her lip. “Probably still working at Nino’s, still helping mum with visitors, still wishing I could get out of there.” She considers for a moment, although it’s terrible to think about.

“But, if I was still doing that, it would mean I’d never found Welsh Kings or spoke to trees or met any of you. So I don’t think I would give this up for anything.” She flicks Henry affectionately on the face as she says it.

“Yeah, I agree. I mean, I could have taken up Mom’s business, or travelled the world first class with all her money, but I like the feeling of being here with you two a lot better.” Henry says, grinning. He doesn’t say anything about how _at peace_ he feels while they’re together, living and exploring, but he is sure they already know.

 

* * *

 

Blue dresses up to see Wicked, but not in the way you would expect.

She wears a tablecloth.

She made it herself, checked, long and almost reaching to her toes, and Gansey thinks if anyone else were to wear it, they would look ridiculous.

And Blue does look ridiculous, but in the best way. He wants to kiss her again.

Her hair is pinned back messily, bits falling out to frame her face. What an unusual creature she is.

Henry and Gansey wear semi-formal suits, because it’s Broadway. Gansey passes their tickets to the usher as they walk in, Henry giving him an award-winning smile. Blue seems in awe of the whole thing, tiny amongst everything huge and theatrical, but still overwhelmingly in love with it.

They have seats in the gallery. Blue’s fingers trace the barrier keeping them up, absent-mindedly waiting, strange burning of happiness in her chest. She locks her pinkie finger with Gansey’s when their hands brush, and they keep it like that.

Gansey orders Champagne because he can get away with it and Blue decides she likes the taste, like strawberries and parties and _New York City._

Then, the curtain opens and the show is about to begin.

Henry looks at Blue and Gansey, pinkies still connected as they sip champagne and watch the show, glancing now and then to smile harder than he ever has before.

 _Kids,_ He thinks.

* * *

 

They stumble back into the hotel late, blue kicking off her unusual shoes and gansey loosening his tie, falling on to the bed in an elated heap. Henry whoops as he closes the door.

“What. A. Show.” He mumbles happily.

“You’re telling me,” Blue smiles into the bed, hair falling out of her pins every which way.

Henry clambers into bed, still in his suit, promising to get changed in the morning.

Blue looks at Gansey until she falls asleep. She feels the sensation of a kiss feathering her lips as she drifts off, feeling the overwhelming sadness that goes with happiness.

She can still hear people talking beneath her, police sirens, the city life, and lights.

_Waking up in a city that doesn’t sleep._

June is a wonderful, forever-lasting storm. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading ahh!! hope you enjoyed!


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